During the Belle Époque Paris swarmed with cabaret, not only those who offered performances with lascivous girls but also real themed cabarets.

The euphoria for the new century approaching, filled the air and the people with hope and desire for life. And it was during this period that in Montmartre was able to find cabarets on the same street. Unfortunately, most of them have fallen into oblivion between the two wars, there are only a few photos to testify their fame:

– Cabaret du Néant opened in 1892 at 34 Boulevard de Clichy. Today, the building no longer exists, but we know that customers were greeted by a kind of prophet-monaco who drove them into so-called “salle d’intoxication” where they could be ordered to the waiters in funeral clothes, sitting at their tables shaped like a coffin, under a chandelier made of real human bones. At the tolling of a bell, all reached an internal room where a volunteer was chosen to enter into a coffin, wrapped in a white shroud on which the reflected image of a skeleton, thanks to a trick similar to the X-rays.

– Cabaret del’Enfer built by Antonin Alexander, in November 1892 at 34 Boulevard de Clichy, where later arose the Cabaret of Nothingness, but was moved to number 53, it was closed in 1925 but its entry was destroyed in 1950 to make way for a Monoprix store . The entrance depicted the open mouths of a monster of the underworld, photographed by Eugène Atget. Clients were served by devil-dressed waiters in a room that resembled a cave with reliefs depicting the pains of hell. You could order alcohol with names of fatal illnesses and in the meantime attend grotesque performances, described by William Chambers Morrow in Bohemian Paris of To-day (1899).

– Cabaret du Ciel It was just next to the Cabaret de l’Enfer, as its opposite. Wanted by Antonin Alexander himself, he opened its doors in 1896, customers were welcomed by waiters dressed up by cherubim in a Gothic style room. You could drank from the “sacred cups” and attended to shows that ridiculed the Christian liturgy, and its customs. Famous are the liturgies dedicated to the so-called “sacred pig”, in front of which bowed and sang psalms. It was destroyed in 1950 along with Cabaret de l’Enfer.

– Le Cabaret Des Truands located at 100 Boulevard de Clichy, stood out for its monumental entrance, decorated with grotesque Gothic figures. The interior was that of a medieval tavern, with a lot of cobwebs. Unfortunately, the façade has disappeared to make way for the Théâtre des Deux-Anes.